Help me prune this fig tree.

19 years ago

This is a Desert King, and it's located south of, and a degree warmer, than Portland, OR.

There's a reasonable breba crop but this tree is getting lanky. It's only a bit over 7 feet tall now, but I'd prefer it to be low and bushy, and it doesn't appear to be headed that direction. I did head back 6 branches in the dormant season hoping they would bud out, and they are, although you can't see the buds in the picture, they are definately there. I sacrificed the breba on these branches, and the main crop is almost worthless, so heading back branches is a real loss.

Is this the way to form a lower, bushier tree? Or should I wait for branching to naturally occur lower down, and then head back to those branches? I don't know if branching will occur low on the tree by itself.

What will happen to branches that I head way back *after* harvesting the breba? Is that a good idea?

The way it seems now is that I should just head back a percentage of the branches before the growing season and sacrifice those figs for the sake of new buds.

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Comments (3)

gorgi
19 years ago
Apart from possibly trimming some 'inner' branches, it looks
good to me and it is certainly busy! Not sure, but 4-6 bush
shoots may be best. King is a breba only fig, so I would
'mostly' leave as is for now and enjoy the fruit.
Trim after harvest and in fall I would trim it to your
desired height...
George (NJ).
P.S. Heard that DK is the 'king fig' for the P.NW region,
enjoy.
tcstoehr
Original Author
19 years ago
If I trim it down the the desired height after harvest in July, there will be no leaves. Will it be able to grow new branches and harden them off before Winter?

Yes, Desert King appears to be a good PNW variety. I find Lattarula quite good as well. Verne's Brown Turkey (from One Green World) was good last year but has dropped every single breba fig this year. Maybe that will allow it to grow a main crop, as it did a small one last year.
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chills71
19 years ago
on many trees, branching can be encouraged by nicking the bark 1/4th to 1/2 inch above a growth node (a latent bud). I have not yet done it with a fig (mine are still too small, except the one I have outside that has the cold naturally trim it back) so I can not personally attest to it working, but I can't see why it wouldn't.

If you begin to see growth from one of those latent buds, you can then cut the higher growth (instant cuttings for you and your friends!....ahem...lolol)

~Chills